The Sacred Heart Church and Cemetery were established in the late 1800ís to
accommodate the Irish Catholic population
who were employed on the railroads
and
large estates in Barrytown and the surrounding hamlets. Prior to a Catholic
Church
in Barrytown, the residents of the area attended services across the river in
Kingston and
Saugerties. People would walk
across the frozen river in winter or cross by
boat in other
seasons, weather permitting. Walter V. Miller in "A Parish History"
tells of
an old tale:
"The account has it that, on one occasion, a boat and its occupants thereof
narrowly missed playing the
leading role in a very tragic incident, this happening,
strange as it may
seem, played a very large part in establishing of the
first church at Barrytown instead of
Red Hook." Apparently, some members of the Donaldson family of Edgewater were
on that boat. The Donaldson family donated the land for the church and cemetery
at Barrytown. The laying of the church
corner stone was 1875. The first burial
in the
Cemetery was November 23, 1886.